The present invention pertains to automated methods for the animation of two and three-dimensional images, as well as mechanical robots. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods of mathematically generating the appearance of emotional states and willful actions in the object being animated, including apparent emotional and physical responses of said object to interactive situations.
Methods for transforming two and three-dimensional images are described in my earlier patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,147,692 and 6,320,583. These patents pertain to using additive morphs as a method of changing an animated character's appearance to portray emotional states and other behaviors. These patents also disclose the use of mathematical formulae to control these morphs in order to create apparent “moods” or emotional states in the animated character. During these moods, one or more mathematical formulae may autonomously change one or more features of the character with a frequency and amplitude that has been set to reflect the mood being portrayed.
In spite of the fact that the methods revealed in these patents can generate a character's mood, and the fact that the character is moving during these moods, each mood of the character is generated by pre-set parameters. Therefore, interactive methods that transition from one of these pre-set moods to another fall into the general category of Stored Interactivity, as defined below.
We pause now to define two forms of interactivity:
1. Stored Interactivity will refer to methods which create interactivity by storing reactions in memory and programming the computer to select them according to user actions.
2. Calculated Interactivity will refer to methods which create interactivity by calculating responses to user input without resorting to stored responses.
Most interactive games today combine both methods to some degree, using Calculated Interactivity to duplicate the freedom of experience that real life provides, and Stored Interactivity to provide more complex behaviors and game structure.
In current computer games, Calculated Interactivity methods enable game players to freely navigate in virtual worlds by continuously calculating the player's field of view within the virtual world, so any user choice can be precisely accommodated. This precise responsiveness generates an exciting feeling of reality. The overwhelming success of navigational interactivity has led to game characters which function almost entirely as navigational vehicles to orient the user in virtual space.
Non-navigational functionality in game characters is created primarily using Stored Interactivity methods, due to the difficulty of mathematically modeling and spontaneously calculating human behavior. The advantage of using Stored Interactivity is that human writers or animators can script meaningful, articulate character responses. The disadvantage is that Stored Interactivity's ‘canned’ responses result in a comparatively stilted, limited interactivity in the exact area where freedom and spontaneity are most appreciated and valuable: inter-human communication.
This lack of appeal of non-navigational interactivity favors games which are action-oriented. Even “social” games like Second Life emphasize navigation and utilize characters which are unable to emote realistically, or to speak naturally.
Even efforts to synthesize simple emotive behaviors, such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,333,969—“Apparatus and method for synthesizing emotions based on the human nervous system” rely on Stored Interactivity methods, as revealed when this patent's “emotion generator” functions by “generating an predetermined emotion” and its “emotional behavior generator” functions by “generating at least one emotional behavior through a predetermined physical reaction.”
A number of methods, including those revealed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,390,680; 7,202,886, and 5,734,794 create emotions and actions in a graphical character or physical robot which are independent of any stored data by having said character or robot imitate a human performer. These procedures are useful when the character is acting as a stand-in, or avatar, for a human controller. However, they do not enable the computer to control characters autonomously.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,909,370 reveals a robotic companion designed to interactively simulate an emotional relationship for uses such as comforting people with severe autism. This robot can autonomously engage in basic emotive behaviors such as “nuzzling.” Such basic emotive reactions are closer to those which will be proposed in the current invention. However, this robotic companion's interactions are selected from a set of predetermined behaviors, which make them a form of Stored Interactivity.
A “physics engine” is the name given to code that spontaneously calculates the movement of physical elements like hair and cloth in current computer games. In such simulations, a progressive parenting of physics equations results in movements being passed down a shaft of hair, or a flag, or a dress, in a way that can be both convincing and beautiful. These physics engines bring an element of spontaneity to user interactions with physical objects. The method of this disclosure parallels these physics engines with a Psychology Engine that brings spontaneity to the emotions and behavior of characters.